o had themselves offended the conventions. Whatever Terry knew or did
not know, she was certainly aware that a match between herself and
General Braithwaite was completely off the map and would be regarded by
every one who counted as a _mesalliance_.

And what did she know? Not that Braithwaite had been a valet--most
decidedly not that he had been _his_ valet; at most she suspected that
they had been acquainted when Braithwaite had moved in humbler circles.
Had she been possessed of the exact truth, she would never have borrowed
a car from that quarter to meet her ex-lover on his home-coming. She had
been testing--trying to discover. She had scented a mystery--one for the
solving of which none of the General's explanations had proved
convincing. Then had come the unforeseen encounter outside the War
Office and Braithwaite's falsehood, which even Terry had detected. "You
mistake me. It's the first time I've had the pleasure." What was the
man's game? Did he hope to erase his old identity? Did he think----

At this point Tabs' patience broke down. "Dash it all," he muttered, "if
there hadn't been a war, the fellow would have been running my
bath-water at this moment."

If there hadn't been a war! But there had; and this was only one of the
many preposterous situations which had resulted from it. Terry was right
in at least one thing that she had said--the world was upside down and
walking on its head.

As he lay there thinking, with the topmost branches of the trees in the
Square weaving a tracery of green shadows against his windows, a sudden
inspiration came to him. He sat up. "By Jove, I've got it. Terry's proud
as Lucifer. I can stop this nonsense at any time by telling her who her
lover was. Braithwaite will have to call to see me; I can force him to
it. When he calls, the door will be opened by Ann. I can hold the threat
over him that, if he doesn't promise to break with Terry, I'll expose
him."

He went across to his writing-table, selected a pen and wrote:--

_General Braithwaite,
The War Office,
Whitehall,
London.

Sir:

I shall be pleased to see you any time to-morrow at my house in
Brompton Square, which you know so well. The matter which we have to
discuss is urgent.

Yours truly,
Taborley._

He addressed the envelope, sealed it and rang the bell. When Ann
appeared, he handed it to her. "Please see that it's posted
immediately."

He had done